House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) confirmed that he has received his cell phone back from the FBI after the agency had seized it a few days back.
He is still uninformed as to why the phone was confiscated by the FBI. However, Perry was informed by his attorneys that he was not a target of the FBI’s investigation.
After the seizure, Perry had blasted FBI agents for making no attempt to contact his lawyer who would have made arrangements to submit the phone if needed by the agency.
Perry claimed that his phone contains information about political and legislative activities as well as private conversations with his family members, friends, and constituents, none of which is the “government’s business.”
Unprecedented Move
In an interview with NTD, Greg Shaffer, a retired FBI agent for the elite hostage rescue team, said that the FBI needs to have special permission to seize any property belonging to members of Congress, members of the clergy, attorneys, or other individuals who deal with privileged information. Seizing Perry’s phone was a “show of force” by the Biden administration.“For an FBI agent to go walk up to a sitting congressman and take his cell phone … that had to be approved at the highest level at the FBI and DOJ,” Shaffer said. “That is very, very difficult to do. Unprecedented.”
By taking control of a phone belonging to a sitting member of Congress, the DOJ, “for maybe the first time in history, is preparing to pierce that veil.”
